4. '00s Singles Again: Backstabs in the Material World 197 Bruce Springsteen: Working on a Dream 202 Frat Daze, Clambake, Anyways, It's Still Country Soul to Kenny Chesney 204 Country Music Goes to Mexico 204 September 11: Country Music's Response 204 Battle of the Country Hunks 214 Country Songs IV 217 The Ladies of Triple A 222 Anvil Won't Go Away 225 Excellent Boring Metal from Germany 227 The Many Ideas of Oneida 228 Next Little Things 232

"Eddy's smarts, freakish knowledge of the obscure, and some hilarious takedowns make the collection feel like hanging out with a cool uncle who gifts you music knowledge nuggets impossible to find elsewhere." — Libby Webster, Austin Chronicle

"Terminated for Reasons of Taste reads like an eclectic Spotify mix on shuffle. . . . Eddy’s knowledgeable and clever writing makes even his most exploratory essays feel less like indulgent ‘Think Pieces’ and more like listening to a clerk at a store that sells records to a very diverse customer base: no judgment, no arrogance, just a pure love of music and some honest opinion." — Eric Rovie, PopMatters

"Eddy is steeped in music so wide ranging he touches everything from classic country to alt music so obscure it hurts. His knowledge is beyond encyclopedic and he writes with such passion that you can’t help but seek some of this stuff out to give it a listen. If you're bored to death with cookie cutter, Mr. Microphone, Auto Tuned schlock, then Eddy’s book will be the equivalent to a travel guide to new music." — Jeff Johns, My Big Honkin Blog

"Can we talk for a second about what a good year Duke University Press is having with rock critic anthologies? They’ve released Greg Tate’s long-awaited FlyBoy 2: The Greg Tate Reader and this tasty slab by Austin-based, Detroit-reared critic Chuck Eddy . . . . This collection draws from such diverse outlets as the Village Voice, Creem magazine, Rhapsody.com, music message boards, and Eddy’s high school newspaper and presents all sides of the seasoned scribe: combative and thoughtful, contrary and compelling." — Joe Gross, Austin American Statesman

"Prioritising enjoyment over critical dogma with a rigour that becomes almost ideological, Eddy scrapes off the barnacles of conventional wisdom to help the music he loves sail into uncharted realms of aesthetic scrutiny. . . . [A] selection which blends Eddy’s ‘proper’ Village Voice journalism with fanzine clippings and messageboard posts seamlessly enough (and with a sufficient absence of 'generational kvetching') to suggest music writing might have a future as well as a past."

— Ben Thompson, Mojo

"A challenging and rewarding book for those interested in music history and criticism, and a quirky introduction to so much of what has passed for popular music over the decades. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers."

— R. D. Cohen, Choice

"Eddy is a major figure in contemporary music criticism, & needs to be read by anyone seriously interested in the subject. Just don’t make me listen to early Styx albums." — Tim Allison, Fed on Peaches blog

"Eddy's smarts, freakish knowledge of the obscure, and some hilarious takedowns make the collection feel like hanging out with a cool uncle who gifts you music knowledge nuggets impossible to find elsewhere." —Libby Webster, Austin Chronicle

"Terminated for Reasons of Taste reads like an eclectic Spotify mix on shuffle. . . . Eddy’s knowledgeable and clever writing makes even his most exploratory essays feel less like indulgent ‘Think Pieces’ and more like listening to a clerk at a store that sells records to a very diverse customer base: no judgment, no arrogance, just a pure love of music and some honest opinion." —Eric Rovie, PopMatters

"Eddy is steeped in music so wide ranging he touches everything from classic country to alt music so obscure it hurts. His knowledge is beyond encyclopedic and he writes with such passion that you can’t help but seek some of this stuff out to give it a listen. If you're bored to death with cookie cutter, Mr. Microphone, Auto Tuned schlock, then Eddy’s book will be the equivalent to a travel guide to new music." —Jeff Johns, My Big Honkin Blog

"Can we talk for a second about what a good year Duke University Press is having with rock critic anthologies? They’ve released Greg Tate’s long-awaited FlyBoy 2: The Greg Tate Reader and this tasty slab by Austin-based, Detroit-reared critic Chuck Eddy . . . . This collection draws from such diverse outlets as the Village Voice, Creem magazine, Rhapsody.com, music message boards, and Eddy’s high school newspaper and presents all sides of the seasoned scribe: combative and thoughtful, contrary and compelling." —Joe Gross, Austin American Statesman

"Prioritising enjoyment over critical dogma with a rigour that becomes almost ideological, Eddy scrapes off the barnacles of conventional wisdom to help the music he loves sail into uncharted realms of aesthetic scrutiny. . . . [A] selection which blends Eddy’s ‘proper’ Village Voice journalism with fanzine clippings and messageboard posts seamlessly enough (and with a sufficient absence of 'generational kvetching') to suggest music writing might have a future as well as a past."

—Ben Thompson, Mojo

"A challenging and rewarding book for those interested in music history and criticism, and a quirky introduction to so much of what has passed for popular music over the decades. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers."

—R. D. Cohen, Choice

"Eddy is a major figure in contemporary music criticism, & needs to be read by anyone seriously interested in the subject. Just don’t make me listen to early Styx albums." —Tim Allison, Fed on Peaches blog

"Chuck Eddy, who possesses a rare knowledge of the process, sum, and esoterica of popular music making, manages to make familiar music seem fresh and suddenly open to new and even unlikely interpretations. He is also an electrifying guide to a wealth of music that you may not know or care about. Spirited, friendly, and highly energized, Eddy pulls readers in, exciting and surprising them." — RJ Smith, author of The One: The Life and Music of James Brown

"Chuck Eddy's breezy style and far-ranging genre enthusiasms may obscure the acute critical insight and fan's appreciation he brings to this dizzying collection of his piecework. It's like running amok at a record fair with a knowledgeable enthusiast who sees all music as having a place in the pop firmament, and can't wait to show you the next hidden treasure, or reveal a truth about a song you've heard many times before." — Lenny Kaye, musician, writer, record producer

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Description

In Terminated for Reasons of Taste, veteran rock critic Chuck Eddy writes that "rock'n'roll history is written by the winners. Which stinks, because the losers have always played a big role in keeping rock interesting." Rock's losers share top billing with its winners in this new collection of Eddy's writing. In pieces culled from outlets as varied as the Village Voice, Creem magazine, the streaming site Rhapsody, music message boards, and his high school newspaper, Eddy covers everything from the Beastie Boys to 1920s country music, Taylor Swift to German new wave, Bruce Springsteen to occult metal. With an encyclopedic knowledge, unabashed irreverence, and a captivating style, Eddy rips up popular music histories and stitches them back together using his appreciation of the lost, ignored, and maligned. In so doing, he shows how pop music is bigger, and more multidimensional and compelling than most people can imagine.

About The Author(s)

Chuck Eddy is an independent music journalist living in Austin, Texas. Formerly the music editor at the Village Voice and a senior editor at Billboard, he is author of Rock and Roll Always Forgets: A Quarter Century of Music Criticism, also published by Duke University Press; The Accidental Evolution of Rock 'n' Roll: A Misguided Tour Through Popular Music; and Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe.